JOURNAL ENTRY

WEDNESDAY 
April 26th, 2017 

 Woke up to this view today and to the sound of something hitting the roof of the rig. I thought it was a nut from a squirrel but soon it sounded like tons of little somethings were falling on us. Then it dawned on me... it was rain!

The air here is full of moisture. I've gotten used to being in the dry desert air. My skin has adjusted, and now, I feel like I'm in a tropical rainforest (exagerrating a little... but you get the point.) I know that for us to have this gorgeous green in the West, we must have the rain. 

Back home, friends keep talking about the amount of rain we've had in Washington. In Portland, we've had the second wettest winter in more than 75 years. That's a lot of rain! And I, personally, welcome it. When it's winter & cold enough in the mountains- that wonderful rain is making snow. For me, that means skiing! Skiing is a passion of mine and our family spends as much time up in the mountains as possible. And now, with this rig, we will be able to drive up, ski, and stay in the parking lots at ski resorts. SO excited!

 We all spent a good chunk of the morning relaxing. It's been a busy last few days... and we all needed some chill time to regroup. I guess we finally left Lake Shasta around noon- an hour after campground checkout hour. Oops! Then, as we headed north, Steve realized we'd left the stablizer jack at the site. Another oops. We'd already been on the road for a while, so I started to calculate the gas/$ it would take to go back and get it, plus added in the value of time. The question was... was it worth going back to get it or should we just leave it for someone to find? In the end, Steve turned around and we headed back to get it. 

After our u-turn, we headed back up north towards Weed. Yes, it is called weed & I can only imagine what a killing they make on the t-shirts and souvenirs they sell there. Our mission was to find potable water, so we kept on truckin'. (FYI- The water at our Lake Shasta campground had tasted kind of rusty so that's why we didn't fill our tanks there.)

Mr. Adventure is very friendly & stopped by an RV park near Weed and asked if he could fill our tank with water. The folks were super nice and didn't even charge us a fee. That was awesome! 

After filling up with water, gas, and restocking the fridge with food, we headed east along Highway 97. The volcanic lands are beautiful... the red rocks, green brush, pine trees, and open space.

Love traveling on the weekdays... roads aren't crowded and we often feel like we are the only ones out here.

We checked out gazetteer to figure out a good stopping point... and after checking the Oregon State Parks website, realized that Collier State Park was not yet open for the season. That news urged us to continue heading north past Klamath Falls. 

A rainbow!

As we drove past the Upper Klamath Lake, both Steve and I said to each other that it reminded us our trip to Alaska back in 2007. So beautiful...

Our drive brought us right along the lakeshore, then into the high desert again with the pines and volcanic rock and soil.

 And ultimately, we pulled in to LaPine State Park (just south of Sunriver, OR.) Years ago, when the kids were super little we camped there in our first trailer. There were so many mosquitoes at that time and I remember being so happy to get out of there.

Tonight, I was so happy to be there with no mosquitoes and barely any other people. That's another reason I love travel during the weekdays... it's rare to find crowds and noise.

We scored an awesome campsite (with full hookups) and super clean bathrooms and free showers! Yay! The beginning of camping season means many pluses! And, since Steve is a disabled vet, we also get free camping! Score score score!

And Alex felt he scored with dinner tonight. He fell in love with instant garlic mashed potatoes, Stove Top stuffing, and barbecue chicken & salad. So easy and so tasty!

Today was definitely another long day, but so beautiful! We will be staying here for a few days & hope to get Sierra back on her bike! ♡